Median income Male; Worked full-time, year-round in the past 12 months (dollars) (Estimate)

$ 30,203

$ 31,191

3.3%

Median income Female; Worked full-time, year-round in the past 12 months (dollars) (Estimate)

$ 26,210

$ 31,998

22.1%

Worked full-time, year-round in the past 12 months:

Female:

28,062

34,327

6,265

22.3%

Male:

33,249

37,419

4,170

12.5%

Total

61,311

71,746

10,435

17.0%

Jobs paying more than $50,000:

Female

2,840

5,873

Pct of total

10%

17%

Male

5,784

8,180

Pct of total

17.4%

21.9%

Pct of Single Mom Households earning $50,000+

7%

17%

New in this year's Census release is more detailed data on income distribution, more tools for measuring precisely how much a place consists of haves and have-nots.

One tool, the Gini Index, examines the way income is distributed among households and expresses the pattern in a single number -- the closer to 0, the more evenly income is distributed, the higher the number, the more income is concentrated in fewer hands.

Since New York County (Manhattan) came out with the highest Gini score, The New York Times local coverage today emphasized this finding. Here in New Jersey, Essex County came out with the highest score and ranked 12th in the nation.

This table shows the way income is distributed in all New Jersey counties, by quintile (For example, the lowest 20 percent of households in Atlantic County earns 3.7 percent of overall income), as well as where each county's Gini index ranks in the nation:

Lowest

Second

Third

Fourth

Highest

Top 5 Percent

Gini Index

National Rank (784 counties)

Atlantic

3.7

9.6

15.9

23.6

47.2

19.9

0.436

329

Bergen

3.4

9.0

14.7

22.2

50.8

23.2

0.470

119

Burlington

4.7

10.8

16.8

24.1

43.6

16.9

0.390

693

Camden

3.6

9.7

15.9

23.7

47.1

19.4

0.435

345

Cape May

3.6

9.0

14.7

22.7

50.0

22.6

0.462

156

Cumberland

3.8

9.8

17.0

25.3

44.1

15.5

0.408

589

Essex

2.4

7.5

13.2

21.6

55.3

25.6

0.521

12

Gloucester

4.1

10.6

16.8

24.9

43.7

16.3

0.399

644

Hudson

2.8

7.9

14.4

23.1

51.8

22.4

0.488

55

Hunterdon

4.0

9.2

15.1

22.9

48.8

22.1

0.448

249

Mercer

3.2

8.5

14.2

22.3

51.8

25.0

0.486

62

Middlesex

4.1

10.8

17.1

24.8

43.2

16.0

0.392

682

Monmouth

3.6

9.5

15.8

23.3

47.9

20.1

0.441

299

Morris

4.0

9.6

15.2

22.1

49.1

22.2

0.446

267

Ocean

4.0

9.7

16.0

24.6

45.7

17.7

0.419

518

Passaic

3.1

8.7

15.0

24.7

48.4

19.2

0.457

181

Salem

3.7

10.8

18.3

26.1

41.1

14.3

0.382

722

Somerset

4.1

10.1

15.4

22.3

48.1

21.0

0.434

365

Sussex

5.0

11.6

17.3

23.8

42.2

16.3

0.372

747

Union

3.5

8.7

14.3

22.3

51.2

22.9

0.473

107

Warren

4.4

10.6

16.7

24.2

44.1

16.6

0.398

645

While Maryland slipped past New Jersey in median household income, the difference is within the confidence interval for each state. This is what that looks like graphically.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

New Jersey's income data has been boosted by the surge in Asian income throughout the U.S., since the Garden State has such a large Asian population.
In this chart, I wanted to see just how the boom in Asian income since 2000 compared to other states -- I also have the states ranked in order of highest Asian household income, and New Jersey is on top.

GEO_NAME

2000 Census

2006

Change

New Jersey

$ 72,224

$ 91,095

26%

Maryland

$ 59,589

$ 82,609

39%

Connecticut

$ 61,587

$ 80,739

31%

Virginia

$ 57,420

$ 73,908

29%

California

$ 55,366

$ 70,067

27%

New Hampshire

$ 56,344

$ 69,815

24%

Michigan

$ 57,966

$ 67,985

17%

Delaware

$ 65,190

$ 67,338

3%

District of Columbia

$ 36,031

$ 67,137

86%

Illinois

$ 57,333

$ 66,754

16%

South Dakota

$ 38,346

$ 65,014

70%

Hawaii

$ 54,232

$ 64,849

20%

Massachusetts

$ 51,273

$ 63,643

24%

West Virginia

$ 50,658

$ 60,677

20%

Minnesota

$ 45,520

$ 60,372

33%

Georgia

$ 50,496

$ 60,337

19%

Texas

$ 50,049

$ 60,159

20%

Idaho

$ 45,746

$ 58,956

29%

Washington

$ 47,517

$ 58,612

23%

Oregon

$ 46,955

$ 58,200

24%

Nebraska

$ 41,945

$ 58,056

38%

Alaska

$ 47,121

$ 57,905

23%

Pennsylvania

$ 44,205

$ 57,119

29%

Florida

$ 44,780

$ 56,650

27%

Nevada

$ 46,328

$ 56,021

21%

Colorado

$ 48,619

$ 55,053

13%

Arizona

$ 45,802

$ 54,754

20%

Ohio

$ 49,266

$ 54,313

10%

New York

$ 45,402

$ 54,099

19%

Kansas

$ 42,767

$ 52,807

23%

North Carolina

$ 49,497

$ 52,670

6%

Utah

$ 42,219

$ 52,465

24%

Missouri

$ 41,075

$ 50,950

24%

Indiana

$ 42,933

$ 50,640

18%

Iowa

$ 40,348

$ 50,610

25%

Wisconsin

$ 39,847

$ 50,264

26%

Rhode Island

$ 36,473

$ 50,226

38%

Kentucky

$ 46,225

$ 49,687

7%

Vermont

$ 39,630

$ 49,244

24%

Tennessee

$ 45,497

$ 49,070

8%

Louisiana

$ 36,115

$ 47,543

32%

Alabama

$ 42,007

$ 46,945

12%

South Carolina

$ 43,915

$ 45,936

5%

Arkansas

$ 37,841

$ 45,438

20%

Oklahoma

$ 34,547

$ 45,298

31%

Mississippi

$ 40,427

$ 45,216

12%

New Mexico

$ 42,010

$ 44,034

5%

Wyoming

$ 40,293

$ 40,764

1%

Montana

$ 24,419

$ 34,321

41%

Maine

$ 37,873

$ 32,980

-13%

North Dakota

$ 35,441

$ 28,388

-20%

Puerto Rico

$ 17,083

$ 18,649

9%

One thing I keep my eye on is income gap among whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics. I put together this little chart to look at median household income in the 2000 Census and in today's release, for the U.S. and New Jersey.

us00

nj00

us06

nj06

changeus

changenj

Median Income

$ 41,994

$ 55,146

$ 48,451

$ 64,470

15.4%

16.9%

Black

$ 29,423

$ 38,513

$ 32,372

$ 44,866

10.0%

16.5%

Asian

$ 51,908

$ 72,224

$ 63,642

$ 91,095

22.6%

26.1%

Hispanic

$ 33,676

$ 39,609

$ 38,747

$ 45,049

15.1%

13.7%

White

$ 45,367

$ 60,600

$ 52,375

$ 71,966

15.4%

18.8%

Black-White

64.9%

63.6%

61.8%

62.3%

-3.0%

-1.2%

Asian-White

114.4%

119.2%

121.5%

126.6%

7.1%

7.4%

Hispanic-White

74.2%

65.4%

74.0%

62.6%

-0.3%

-2.8%

This is a table I put together last year showing where the states ranked in median household income, 1970-1980-1990-2000.... New Jersey was "passed" by Maryland in today's American Community Survey release, but the state's technically are within each other's margin of error, as they were last year...

2000

1990

1980

1970

United States

41,994

30,056

16,841

8,486

2000

1990

1980

1970

Alabama

34,135

23,597

13,669

6,419

43

42

48

49

Alaska

51,571

41,408

25,414

11,817

4

2

1

1

Arizona

40,558

27,540

16,448

8,199

27

28

27

26

Arkansas

32,182

21,147

12,214

5,356

49

49

50

50

California

47,493

35,798

18,243

9,302

8

8

10

11

Colorado

47,203

30,140

18,056

8,423

10

19

12

22

Connecticut

53,935

41,721

20,077

10,877

2

1

4

2

Delaware

47,381

34,875

17,846

9,309

9

9

13

10

D.C

40,127

30,727

16,211

8,283

28

18

29

25

Florida

38,819

27,483

14,675

7,168

34

29

41

38

Georgia

42,433

29,021

15,033

7,346

20

24

37

36

Hawaii

49,820

38,829

20,473

10,675

6

5

2

3

Idaho

37,572

25,257

15,285

7,482

37

39

35

33

Illinois

46,590

32,252

19,321

9,706

13

12

7

7

Indiana

41,567

28,797

17,582

8,921

22

25

18

16

Iowa

39,469

26,229

16,799

7,880

31

37

23

29

Kansas

40,624

27,291

16,362

7,578

26

30

28

31

Kentucky

33,672

22,534

13,965

6,537

45

46

46

46

Louisiana

32,566

21,949

15,227

6,538

48

48

36

45

Maine

37,240

27,854

13,816

7,315

38

27

47

37

Maryland

52,868

39,386

20,281

10,101

3

4

3

5

Massachusetts

50,502

36,952

17,575

9,563

5

6

19

8

Michigan

44,667

31,020

19,223

9,997

16

15

8

6

Minnesota

47,111

30,909

17,761

8,753

11

17

14

17

Mississippi

31,330

20,136

12,096

5,221

50

51

51

51

Missouri

37,934

26,362

15,581

7,672

35

35

32

30

Montana

33,024

22,988

15,420

7,436

47

45

33

34

Nebraska

39,250

26,016

15,925

7,426

32

38

31

35

Nevada

44,581

31,011

18,211

9,505

17

16

11

9

New Hampshire

49,467

36,329

17,013

8,652

7

7

21

18

New Jersey

55,146

40,927

19,800

10,371

1

3

6

4

New Mexico

34,133

24,087

14,654

7,096

44

41

42

39

New York

43,393

32,965

16,647

9,268

19

11

26

13

North Carolina

39,184

26,647

14,481

7,025

33

34

44

40

North Dakota

34,604

23,213

15,293

6,909

42

44

34

41

Ohio

40,956

28,706

17,754

9,279

23

26

15

12

Oklahoma

33,400

23,577

14,750

6,596

46

43

39

44

Oregon

40,916

27,250

16,780

8,296

24

31

24

23

Pennsylvania

40,106

29,069

16,880

8,548

29

23

22

20

Rhode Island

42,090

32,181

16,097

8,617

21

13

30

19

South Carolina

37,082

26,256

14,711

6,835

39

36

40

42

South Dakota

35,282

22,503

13,156

6,450

41

47

49

48

Tennessee

36,360

24,807

14,142

6,631

40

40

45

43

Texas

39,927

27,016

16,708

7,538

30

33

25

32

Utah

45,726

29,470

17,671

8,482

15

21

17

21

Vermont

40,856

29,792

14,790

7,961

25

20

38

28

Virginia

46,677

33,328

17,475

8,293

12

10

20

24

Washington

45,776

31,183

18,367

9,125

14

14

9

14

West Virginia

29,696

20,795

14,564

6,487

51

50

43

47

Wisconsin

43,791

29,442

17,680

8,997

18

22

16

15

Wyoming

37,892

27,096

19,994

8,035

36

32

5

27

Today saw a major Census release on income and poverty. We ended up looking most closely at how median household income was on the rise in Newark.

That was just one of dozens of angles we examined throughout the day. Right now, I still have 15 spreadsheets open. Which is probably one of the geekiest sentences I've ever written.

Still, there's plenty of material that gets churned up during the day, things that don't quite merit a separate story in the paper and don't quite fit into the material that is going into print.

So for the next day or so, I'm going to clean up my desktop and stick all the interesting scraps up here in this blog -- I'll just post everything in this entry and update at the top, so stay tuned!